Detroit is a city that has had a lot of bad press recently. Between its well publicised bankruptcy, stories of a population exodus, and a gangster image fostered by Eminem and the 8 Mile movie, it's fair to say that most people wouldn't think of the city as an obvious tourist destination. I was interested to see just how much of this was true, and also spend a little bit of time not being a tourist.
Detroit is significant in my family; it was where Dad and his family spend several years when him and his brothers were teens. Growing up I had always loved listening to the stories about Detroit and the hijinks that dad and my uncles got up to. It sounded like a great place to be a kid.
I had been invited to stay with the neighbours of dad's family from when they had lived in Detroit, who are now living north west of the city centre. Before I get to that though I need to fill you in on what I had been up to since I left off. I had driven back to Bloomington from Chicago with Rez and Peggy. I spent a few days staying with them being particularly lazy. It may sound odd but after so much action all I felt like doing was sleeping in and watching shows on Netflix. After three or four days of this it was finally time to say the last of the group goodbyes. I had a long a solitary drive to Detroit which covered a lot of ground that we had driven as a group a just the week before. What we had done in two days on the way down I did in one and arrived at the Lilly's house just in time for dinner.
It felt like coming home. I had met John and Gail years ago when I was young but as soon as I arrived I felt like I was with friends I had known forever. We had a nice dinner at a nearby restaurant and before heading home where I didn't manage to stay awake for long. The Lilly's house is a lovely old building dating back to the time of the Civil War, sat close to the shores of a picturesque lake, something that Michigan has in abundance.
The next morning John and I set off on a trip to Dearborn, the home of Ford. Detroit is probably most famous as the birthplace of the American automotive industry, and for pioneering the development of the production line, most of which was down to Henry Ford. Although the auto industry isn't as big as it once was it is still a huge part of the city's economy and culture and contains the headquarters of both Ford and General Motors.
We were in Dearborn to do the Ford factory tour. The tour featured a short documentary film about the history of Ford at their Rouge complex, an intense laser show about the newest model of the Ford F-150 truck, a collection of historic Ford cars, and the highlight; a self guided tour of the F-150 factory production floor. This was one of the most interesting things I have seen on the trip. A raised walkway gave us access to a large part of the factory floor allowing us to watch as trucks moved along the production line. It was amazing how much complexity was broken up in to such simple parts. Workers had very short and relatively simple jobs to do. So much was automated, right down to the delivery of boxes of parts to each worker's station as they used them. I was also cool to see how the truck bodies were painted as a whole and then split up with the chassis, doors, and tray moving off in separate directions. When it came time to put things back together all the parts were reunited automatically with everything being timed to perfection. There with things going on at all levels with conveyors carrying parts overhead.
Classic Fords
Following our tour we then drove in to the City Centre to see the famous Renaissance Centre. We had hoped to be able to travel to the top of the tower but unfortunately the only way to get up was to dine at the restaurant which would not open until later in the evening. Instead we took a ride on the People Mover; a monorail style elevated train which takes a short loop around the city centre. It was a good way to get a quick overview of the area. There was some sort of country music concert on that night so we saw a lot of people dressed up in their boots and hats having tailgate parties. We took a quick walk around the riverfront as well before heading home.
The Renaissance Centre
An old Stargate in Downtown Detroit. Some say that one day the Stargate will open and prosperity will return.
That night we had a great dinner with the extended Lilly family and another friend that had known dad's family when they were there. It was really nice to be able to meet Jeff, dad's childhood best friend, and sister Lisa, and their respective children Christina and Grace. It was also hearing the stories about the things that they used to get up to. Again I felt right at home even though I had not met Jeff or Lisa before.
The next morning was a Sunday and I was invited to go to Lilly's church with them. The church itself was an amazing building. It looked very traditional and historic even though it was very new by church standards. The sermon was given in the church gardens which was cool as it was a nice morning. Once we got back Jeff and Lisa took me out on the lake for some tubing(/donuting/biscuiting/whatever else you want to call a inflatable thing that you sit in and get towed around by a boat in...) and some attempted skiing. Lisa was really good, and I also managed for a few seconds but the wind had come up which made things a bit harder. We finished off with a bit of a tour around the lake looking at some of the amazing houses that people had built.
Kirk in the Hills Church
I had a few quiet days to follow with sleep ins and lazing around reading books and watching Netflix and generally just relaxing. I also started to thing seriously about the future as money was starting to get to the point where I needed to be careful not to end up stuck when I moved on. I had originally planned to try and get some volunteer work in Canada to do over the winter but this had proved to be unsuccessful. No one that I had contacted had responded and it became obvious that I needed to rethink things. I had always thought that I would eventually move on London early in 2016 and it suddenly became obvious that brining that forward a few months made a lot more sense than any of the other ideas. And just like that I had a plan. I planned roughly to spend another three weeks in North America before moving on.
I found this vibrant fungus on one of my walks.
We also visited the house that dad had lived in, and saw the Lilly's house next door too. One thing that I noticed in Detroit that I really liked was how few fences there were between houses. It really makes the suburbs seem a lot bigger and more open than in other areas.
The house where Dad lived.
One highlight of my time in Detroit was having dinner at the Oakland Hills Country Club with the Lilly's. Oakland Hills is famous for its golf course which has hosted, among other events, six US Opens, and three PGA Championships. The country club was very nice and the food was great, as was the company.
The rest of my time in Detroit was spent going for walks, spending time with the Lilly's and eating a lot of nice food. It was exactly what I felt like doing and it was an amazing privilege to be hosted by such great people. I was treated like a member the family and I'm so grateful for the opportunity. In all I stayed for ten days and was able to rest up and relax and move on again with new energy and purpose.
When one sign is not enough to hold all of the rules you have to read before walking on a path...
I'll finish up by responding to the thoughts I opened with. In order to understand Detroit's problems it is important to make the distinction between the City of Detroit and the Detroit Metropolitan area. The City of Detroit refers to an specific area within the greater metropolitan agglomeration. In New Zealand terms it will be like referring to the North Shore as it's own distinct city within the greater Auckland metropolitan area (the city of Detroit is obviously much larger but you get the idea). Basically the point is the in the US it is normal to have multiple cities within a single urban area.
The problems I talked about at the start are most prevalent in the city of Detroit. Much of the rest of the metropolitan area is in fact very wealthy and prosperous. The short time that I spent in downtown Detroit I did notice a few abandoned buildings here and there but nothing extraordinary. I have read though that the problem is most apparent in the suburbs that surround downtown. The reputation that the city has is probably a bit unfair as while there are indeed some problems, the city is still vibrant and interesting, and well worth a visit.
As always there are about a hundred other things that I could talk about but I'll leave it there for now. Next up: Toronto.